Mandarin Oriental Manila by John Borthwick

On a traffic island in front of the Mandarin Oriental Manila a bronze statue of Philippine independence hero Pio Del Pilar furiously brandishes a sword and revolver, seemingly against the sheer intensity of Manila life. His otherwise quixotic gesture appears (in photographs, at least) to deflect the onslaught of Makati Avenue traffic bearing down on the hotel.

The Mandarin Oriental offers everything — pool, gym, business centre, conference facilities, etc — you'd expect from a five-star hotel in a city where there's robust competition from equally prestigious chains. Its distinctive "pluses" are both upstairs and downstairs. On the 16th to 18th floors, the Club Oriental offers its guests extras such as complimentary breakfast, ruinously good afternoon tea and sundowner cocktails overlooking the city. You can then fall further upstairs to The Oriental Spa, a Thai-inspired temple of body schmoozing and serenity.

Downstairs, at lobby level, the newly opened and very chic Paseo Uno restaurant already has the best breakfast in town: no rubber omelettes or petrified buffet bacon here, thank you. An elegant fusion of Asian and Western elements in the design extends to the dishes — noodles, pasta, tempura, grills and rotisserie — on offer throughout the day and evening. The hotel is a 10-minute walk from Makati's bargain-prone shopping centres and its nightlife zone, and around half an hour from the airport.